Watsonville man found guilty of 2009 gang killing in Watsonville

SANTA CRUZ -- A 26-year-old Watsonville gang member was found guilty of first-degree murder on Thursday in the death of Richard Campos on Roache Road in 2009.

Angel Antonio Torres also was convicted of special allegations of gang participation and personal use of a firearm. He faces life in prison when he is sentenced May 2.

Anna Romine, mother of 20-year-old Campos, wept in court when the verdict was read.

"I don't think any mother should be put through what I've been put through," she said outside court. "The main thing is he can't get out and do it to anyone else."

Campos was shot to death outside his home on Roache Road on Sept. 16, 2009. Prosecutors said Torres and 21-year-old Luis Meza got out of a blue GMC Yukon and killed Campos as part of a gang initiation, or "jale."

Torres fired the fatal shot, said prosecutor Johanna Schonfield.

"He was quite callous in the way he did it, bragging about killing the victim," Schonfield said outside court.

Joel Sanchez, 33, drove the GMC but didn't fire any shots. He too was found guilty of first-degree murder in the first trial in 2013 because he orchestrated the shooting, prosecutors said.

During that trial, a jury hung on Torres' murder charges but found two Sanchez and Meza guilty of murder after about six days of deliberation.

Thursday, after four hours of deliberation, the jury of nine men and three women came back with a verdict.

Attorney George Gigarjian defended Torres.

He told jurors that there was no physical evidence that linked Torres to the shooting, and he tried to cast doubt on the reliability of witnesses who testified. They included former gang members and drug addicts with criminal histories.

Rob Wade, who prosecuted the five-week case with Schonfield, said the verdict was a long time coming.

Wade said outside court, "We're very pleased to have this finally completed."